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FIRST PARIS 

HAVERHILL, MASS. 





BY THE PASTOR 
RE1V. FRANK A. GIL-MORE, 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1895. 

C. C. Morse & Son, Printers, 13 Washington Sq., Haverhill, Mass. 




1 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



of the: 



First Parish, Haverhill, Mass. 









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: 



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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF THE 



First Parish, Haverhill, Mass. 



In 1640, twelve persons from the towns of Ipswich and 
Newbury came up the river Merrimac and settled in the 
wild woods of Pentucket. This tract of land now called 
Haverhill, had been granted by the General Court to the 
Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich, wdio, it would appear, 
was hoping to see a town founded here and to have his son 
John Ward settled as its minister. 

The land had been granted on condition that " they 
build there before the next General Court." This will ac- 
count for the coining of the twelve persons from Ipswich 
and Newbury in 1640, the year the grant was made. The 
Rev. John Ward did not come in that year but came the 
next year (1641), probably in October. 

The founding of this city and the beginning of its reli- 
gious teaching and ministrations are almost exactly sjm- 
chronous. The settlement was originated by a clergyman, 



4 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

the Rev. Nathaniel Ward. It was named Haverhill for the 
English birthplace of his son. Except for the single 
season of 1640, the life of this city and of this parish are 
contemporaneous. 

John Ward, 1641-1694. 

I date the beginning of this parish from 1641, when John 
Ward came and entered upon the work of the ministry. 
The parish was not formally and officially organized till 
1645, just two hundred and fifty years ago. But all that 
time, from 1641 to 1645, Mr. Ward was active, earnest and 
influential as a clergyman and as a citizen. There was no 
meeting-house and the people gathered under a tree near 
the burying ground. When stormy they assembled in a 
private house. We date our anniversary from 1645. The 
actual beginning of this church dates from 1641, wdien pas- 
tor Ward preached his first sermon to that handful of set- 
tlers beneath the tree, with the glancing Merrimac on one 
hand, a few newly dug graves, marking what is now Pen- 
tucket Cemetery, on the other ; and all around the un- 
broken contiguity of the forest. 

John Ward was eminently fitted to be a leader among 
such a band of pioneers. His father, Nathaniel Ward, 
minister at Ipswich (Agawam), w r as a graduate of Cam- 
bridge University, England. He was for a time pastor at 
Standon, Hertfordshire, in England, but driven out on ac- 
count of his non-comformity, came to New England in 
1634. In 1638, he was appointed by the General Court to 
draw up a code of laws for New England. His son John 
was born in Haverhill, Essex County, England, November 
5, 1608. He was a graduate of Cambridge, from which he 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 5 

received the degrees of A. B. and A. M. He came to this 
country in 1689. 

Cotton Mather, in the " Magnalia," speaks of him as 
"learned, ingenious, religious. He was a person of quick 
apprehension, a clear understanding, a strong memory, a 
facetious conversation, an exact grammarian, an expert 
physician, and, which was top of all, a thorough divine; 
But which rarely happens, these endowments of his mind 
were accompanied with a most healthy, hardy and agile 
constitution of body which enabled him to make nothing of 
walking on foot a journey as long as thirty miles together." 

"He was of a modest and bashful disposition and very 
sparing of speaking especially before strangers, or such as 
he thought his betters. He was wonderfully temperate in 
meat, in drink, in sleep, and he was always expressed, I had 
almost said affected, a peculiar sobriety of apparel. Pie 
was a son most dutiful unto his parents. Though he had 
great offers of rich marriages in England, yet he chose to 
marry a meaner person whom exemplary piety had recom- 
mended. He lived with her for more than forty years in 
such a happy harmony that when she died he professed that 
in all this time he had never received one displeasing 
word or look from her." It appears that his wife, whose 
name was Alice Edmunds, was to have inherited a revenue 
of £200 per year if she married a minister. This revenue 
would have been Ward's if he had conformed to the re- 
quirements of the Church of England. " But," says 
Mather, J* he left all the allurements and enjoyments of 
England, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people 
of God in a wilderness." 



6 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

The first mention of Mr. Ward in the Town Records is 
the statement that in 1642 he was granted sixteen acres for 
a home lot by the town. When the land on which the city 
now stands was purchased of the Indians in 1642, the 
names of John Ward, Robert Clements, Tristram Coffin, 
Hugh Sherratt and William White appear on the part of 
the settlers, while the sachems Saggahew and Passaquoi 
make their mark in the form of a bow and arrow. 

In 1644, an attempt was made to organize churches at 
Haverhill and at Andover, but when the delegates met at 
Rowley, " most of those who were to join together in 
church fellowship at that time, refused to make the confes- 
sion of their faith and repentance, because as was said, 
they declared it openly before in other churches upon their 
admission into them. Whereupon the messengers of the 
churches not being satisfied the assembly brake, before they 
had accomplished what they intended." 

But in October of 1645, the council again met at the 
same place and "John Ward was ordained pastor of the 
church in Haverhill on the north side of the Merrimac, and 
Mr. John Woodbridge was ordained pastor of the church 
at Andover on the south side of the same." It causes a 
smile as we read that the council was held at Rowley be- 
cause neither Haverhill nor Andover " were able to enter- 
tain the people who were like to gather." 

The date of this council was October 24, 1645, probably 
old style, making the true date November 5. We have 
placed it on this date for convenience sake. 

The parish organized at Andover at the same date with 
this has had a long and honorable history. It celebrated 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 7 

its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, October 2d, with 
a very interesting programme and a large attendance. 

As a curious bit of history I may mention that James 
Ward the brother of the Rev. John was found guilty in 
company with another minister's son of stealing money and 
gun-powder from a house in Cambridge. They being stu- 
dents at Harvard College " were ordered by the Governor 
to be there whipped which was performed by the President 
himself." 

The church which was thus formed at Haverhill consisted 
of fourteen persons : eight males and six females. Their 
names are not preserved. This was the twenty sixth church 
founded in the colony of Massachusetts, Haverhill being 
the twenty-third settlement. 

1646. The town voted to make Mr. Ward's land rate 
free so long as he remained their pastor. His salary was 
£40 per year. 

1648. The first meeting-house was built. It stood on 
the " lower knowle at the lower end of the mill lot ; " in 
what is now Pentucket Cemetery. This structure was 
twenty-six feet long, twenty feet wide, and one story high. 
It had no gallery or cupola. The rough stones which 
formed its underpinning were to be seen within the present 
century. 

1666. John Hutchins is given permission "to build a 
gallery at ye west end of ye meeting-house." 

1669. £10 is added to Mr. Ward's salary making in all 
£50. 

Every man in the settlement was obliged to pay a minis- 
terial tax according to his estate. If any man neglected or 



8 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

refused to do this, or brought in a false account it was in 
the power of the selectmen "to rate such persons and doom 
them as they please on account of the deficit." It was also 
their duty to hire some one to keep the meeting-house in 
order. 

The following vote shows the regard in which they held 
their ministers and the privilege of Sunday gatherings. 

Andrew Greely, Sr. was elected to keep the ferry,- "pro- 
vided that he agree and will carry over the inhabitants of 
the town and the inhabitants of the town of Merrimac 
(Bradford) over against us, for three pence a horse, and a 
penny a man ; and that he will carry all ministers over free 
that come upon visitation to us, and in particular Mr. Symes 
(of Bradford) ; and that if the inhabitants of the town over 
against us do come over to meet with us on the Sabbath 
days, they shall have free use of the ferry boat for the oc- 
casion without paying anything." 

1680. Mrs. Ward dies. Mr. Ward had been laboring 
here for almost forty years. He was now seventy-four 
years old. He asked for an assistant to help carry the 
work. A Mr. Cushing was called and offered £100, besides 
the £60 due Mr. Ward as salary. All this should be paid 
" part money, part wheat, part Rye and part Indian corn, 
all good, dry, sweet, clean and merchantable." But Mr. 
Cushing did not come. 

1689. Benj. Rolfe of Newbury began to preach as Mr. 
Ward's assistant, with a salary of £40. Mr. Ward was to 
have his old salary of £60 and board Rolfe. He accepted 
a call and settled in 1692. 

1693. Mr. Ward died December 27. Only a few Sun- 









HISTORICAL SKETCH. 9 

days before he bad preached a sermon with vigor notwith- 
standing his eighty-eight years. At the funeral, Mr. Rolfe 
said of him, " these four years have been the happiest and 
most profitable of my life. I have had the admonitions of 
a father and friend ; an example constantly before me of 
undissembled virtue and ardent piety." 

Benj. Rolfe, 1692-1708. 

On January 7, 1694, Mr. Rolfe was ordained. He was to 
have £60 per annum in wheat, rye and Indian corn, "and 
upon the town's charge at convenient season annually there 
shall be laid in for him a stock of good, sweet, dry hay for 
his horse during the winter." 

Mr. Rolfe's letter of acceptance shows that the ideal pas- 
torate to his mind was the life long one. " I do express 
myself willing to settle myself among you so long as the 
people of God here do continue in the true faith and peace 
of the Gospel." 

1695. Soon after Rolfe's ordination, the question of a 
new meeting-house began to agitate the people. We find 
a vote in the record giving permission to build a gallery at 
the east end of the meeting-house. This was a sort of com- 
promise between those who wanted a new church building 
and those who did not. The gallery was not built. But in 
1697 a vote was passed to build a new meeting house and a 
committee chosen to take full charge, only they must not 
exceed £400 in cost. A vote was then taken on the loca- 
tion of the new edifice with this result: "for the old place 
that now is, twenty-five. For the common-land near John 
Kezars, fifty-three." 

1699. A special committee chosen to view the new 



10 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

meeting-house and report if the town should accept it, re- 
ported as follows : " We have viewed the house within and 
without and have measured the house in its length, breadth 
and height and find them all to exceed the covenant dimen- 
sions. The outside is well fitted and comely ; for the work 
within we find and account it to be good, substantially well 
and commendably done with respect to the walls, pulpits, 
seats below and in the galleries and cannot but say we like 
and approve the work." 

Nath. Saltonstall, 
Simon Wain weight, 
Lieut. John White, 
Capt. John Whittier, 
Dan'l Ela. 

The town then voted that "the new meeting-house shall 
be the place where the people shall in future meet and at- 
tend for the worship of God." 

Accordingly the old meeting-house was abandoned and 
the town voted to dispose of it to the best advantage. We 
do not know to what use it was put or just how long it 
stood. 

The new building stood on what is now City Hall Park. 
It was " fifty feet long, forty-two feet wide and eighteen 
feet stud." Some years after it was built a cupola was ad- 
ded and a picture of the building painted on a panel was 
for many years in the front room of Harrod's Tavern. 
Harrod's Tavern stood where City Hall is now, and was 
the place where Washington slept when he passed through 
Haverhill on his tour of New England. In moving into 
the new structure a special committee was chosen to " seat 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 11 

the meeting-house." This was a difficult and delicate task, 
for persons were seated according to their social rank. A 
second committee was chosen to seat the first committee 
lest they should be unfair in seating themselves. It was 
further voted that any person who refused to sit in the seat 
appointed to him or sat in the seat of another should be 
fined one shilling. 

With the people now fairly settled in the new and larger 
meeting-house ; the report of the " committee to seat the 
meeting-house " accepted ; with the new pastor Benj. Rolfe 
and his young wife duly established ; we may pause a mo- 
ment to take a closer look at their service of worship. 

It is a Sabbath morning in the year 1700. The warm 
summer sun looks down upon a straggling line of houses, 
about one hundred in number. Most of them are on the 
slope on the upper side of what is now Water Street. A 
few are higher up the river. John Kezar and Lieut. John- 
son are close by the new meeting-house. The parsonage 
house is just up the hill (immediately opposite this church). 
Capt. Simon Wainwright lives on what is now Winter 
Street. Close by in the field is a garrison house com- 
manded by Johnathan Emerson ; and five other such garri- 
sons, some of them brick, are standing in various parts of 
the town. 

Away to the north-west, a mile or so, is a house and 
farm purchased by Thomas Dustan with the money paid his 
heroic wife Hannah for the ten scalps which she brought 
home from the island of Conticook. 

Suddenly is heard the beating of a drum. It is Richard 
Littlehale, who has been duly chosen to " beat the drum on 



12 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

the Lord's day morning and evening and on lecture days, 
and to have thirty shillings." The people all understand 
what the drum means, and they like it better than they did 
Abram Tyler's horn which they tried awhile ; for after pay- 
ing him his stipend of corn, they reemployed Littlehale and 
his drum. Soon Andrew Greely in the ferry boat is seen 
bringing some of the people from the Bradford side who are 
minded to visit their Haverhill friends. Then several 
horses come in sight bearing each its double burden of man 
and wife. Some have three or even four persons, the 
father in front holding one child and behind on the postil- 
lion the mother with another. There were no wagons in 
those days. In 1753 there was only one chaise in town. 
Those early roads were hardly more than cart tracks. 
Main Street, Winter Street, Merrimack and Emerson 
Streets, as well as Summer and Washington Streets were 
not laid out. There were roads along Water Street and 
Mill Street to Amesbury and Salisbury, and across the river 
to Andover, Topsfield, Ipswich and the coast. 

By nine o'clock all the people who are coming are 
seated in the meeting-house. A few years before the 
record informs us that there were sixty-four freemen in 
town — we may suppose that the total population did not 
exceed three hundred and fifty or four hundred. Of these 
many are too far away, others are unable to come. But 
unless they had a good excuse they were fined for "ab- 
senting themselves on the Lord's day." 

There are but eight pews in the church built and owned 
by private families. The rest of the people sit on benches 
or seats. The women on one side, the men on the other, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 13 

each and all in the place assigned by the committee. Now 
the minister comes in escorted by the sexton. Every one 
looks at the young pastor as he mounts the pulpit steps and 
turns about, showing to good advantage his huge periwig 
with its massive powdered rolls hanging down over his 
shoulders ; his long black robe almost concealing his black 
silk stockings and bright silver shoe buckles. The audi- 
ence is very plainly dressed. Only a few families can af- 
ford style, and the others do not dare to assume it, because 
only a few years before tvv r o daughters of Hanniel Bos- 
worth were fined ten shillings each for wearing silk ; and 
John Hutchins' wife was brought into court for wearing a 
silk hood, but upon testimony of " her being brought up 
above the ordinary way," was discharged. But Mrs. Swett 
was at the same court, and for the same offence fined ten 
shillings. All whose estates did not exceed £200 were lia- 
ble to fines for " bravery in dress." 

In the audience are Capt. Ayer and his company of 
twenty soldiers, who are guarding the town against attack 
by the Indians. We notice Simon Wainwright who was 
to be killed by the Indians in 1708, and Goodwife Swan 
who was to drive an iron spit through the body of a savage 
as he tried to thrust himself through her door. Over yon- 
der is Mr. Merrill whose little son was scalded to death. 
And those two ladies are the widows Ladd and Haynes 
whose husbands were killed and their sons carried off by 
the Indians the summer before. That woman with the 
strong. features and firm mouth is Hannah Dustan, whose 
name is in everybody's mouth. 

The service lasts from nine till past twelve. Mr. Rolfe 



14 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

reads and expounds a chapter from the Bible. His prayer 
is nearly one hour long, and his sermon one hour and a 
half. We do not know the title of that discourse, but we 
may choose one from a number of titles that have come 
down to us. "A Pack of Cards to win Christ, " or " The 
Spiritual Mustard Pot to make the soul sneeze with devo- 
tion." Then a hymn is lined out and all sing. Here is 
the first verse : 

" Why dost withdraw thy hand aback 
And hide it in thy lappe? 
O pluck it out and be not slack 
To give thy foes a rap." • 

Then one of the deacons rises and says, " Brethren of the 
congregation offer freely, as God has prospered you." 
Then beginning with the magistrates and chief gentlemen, 
then the elders and all men in the congregation, finally all 
single persons, widows and women in absence of their hus- 
bands file up to the deacons seat by one aisle, deposit 
their contributions and return to their seats, where all stand 
till the benediction is pronounced and the minister has 
passed out. 

Now the people take an hours recess. They talk and 
gossip. Some go home to dinner and take friends to dine 
with them. Others who come from a distance feed 
their horses, while the women get the lunch boxes ready. 
The men stand in little groups on the church green or gath- 
ered about the stocks and whipping post, where the con- 
stable is telling about a man whom he whipped, and how 
the fellow " coolly offered to take as many more for half a 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 15 

pint of rura."t Goodman Greely is speaking of the new 
grist mill which he has erected on East Meadow river. One 
red faced boy is ashamed as his companions laugh because 
the tythingman had hit his head a smart rap as he nodded 
during the long prayer. On a post at the side of the church 
is a huge she wolf's head which Timothy Eaton had shot on 
the ox common, and for which the town granted him ten 
shillings. $ Some young men with two or three soldiers are 
looking into a store room under the pulpit where the town's 
powder and ammunition is kept.§ One freckle faced youth 
remarks that " they keep it under the pulpit because it is the 
dryest place in town."j| In the afternoon, there are bap- 
tisms, collections, and one or two cases of church discipline 
with confessions. It is past six o'clock when all is over and 
Mr. Rolfe goes home. 

1708. This parish is identified with all that is sorrowful 
as well as heroic in the history of Haverhill. The horrors 
of the Indian wars, with shooting, scalping, burning and 
carrying captive are part and parcel of this parish as well 
as of this town. The names of Saltonstall, Bradley, White, 
Ayer, Johnson, Wainwright and others; names which stand 
for all that is best in our early history ; names which appear 
among those killed or captured ; names of those who 
fought like demons to defend their homes — all these are on 
the parish rolls. Thomas and Hannah Dustan, whose 
names are known to every school child in America, were 



t This actually occurred somewhat later. 

1 Really 1696. 

§ Order of 1672. 

|| Dr. Snow's sermon at 250th Anniversary of Haverhill. 



16 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

baptized and admitted to this parish in 1724 by the Rev. 
John Brown. In 1708 the worst attack which Haverhill 
ever sustained from an enemy was made August 29, by the 
Indians and French. They shot Rev. Benj. Rolfe, and 
wounded him in the arm as he endeavored to hold the door 
against them. They then tomahawked Mr. Rolfe, his wife 
and child and put to death three soldiers who were stationed 
in the house, but who had cravenly refused to defend it. 
A colored servant took two of the children and hid them 
and herself in the cellar. They escaped. In all, sixteen 
persons were killed in this attack on the town, and as many 
more carried away to Canada. The meeting-house was set 
on fire but not destroyed. The spot where Rolfe fell is 
marked by a stone directly opposite the entrance to this 
church. Mr. Rolfe, his wife and child are buried in Pen- 
tucket Cemetery. Mr. Rolfe was born in 1662 in Newbury, 
and graduated at Harvard in 1684. A pious and upright 
man beloved by his people and ardently devoting his 
strength and talents to his ministry. 

The earliest extant records of the church is a list of per- 
sons baptized by Mr. Rolfe in 1693. 

The next pastor was Rev. Joshua Gardiner, 1710 to 1716. 
In the interim the town had purchased the estate of Mr. 
Rolfe for £300, and had given "fifteen persons liberty to 
build a seat to sit in at the hind end of the meeting-house 
in the west gallery ; they promising that they would not 
build so high as to damnify the light of them windows at 
the said west end of the said gallery, provided thev make 
up twenty persons to sit in said seat." Also thirteen young 
ladies were given permission to build a pew in the hind seat 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 17 

of the east gallery of the meeting-house, provided as in the 
first place they did not " damnify the light." 

1710. The church called Mr. Gardiner, and the town 
voted to concur with the church in their selection. Mr. 
Gardiner's salary was £70, half money and half corn, also 
the use of the parsonage lands. The expenses of Mr. Gar- 
diner's ordination amounting to £12, were paid by the town. 
Mr. Gardiner remained at this post six years, dying in 1716. 
Of him it is recorded that " he was distinguished for piety 
in early life. At the age of thirteen he became a hopeful 
subject of divine grace. He entered college at sixteen, and 
graduated at twenty ; endearing himself to all who knew 
him by his correct habits and amiable deportment ; and 
distinguished himself as a scholar and christian." On his 
tomb is cut: "The Rev. John Gardiner, a man full of the 
Holy Ghost and faith." 

Under Mr. Gardiner, forty-eight were admitted to the 
church, one hundred and fifty were baptised and seventeen 
owned the covenant. Among those baptized was Hagar, 
the negro servant of Benj. Rolfe, whose courage saved the 
two children. The town voted to pay the expenses of Mr. 
Gardiner's funeral, and William White was sent to Boston 
for supplies. The cost was £34, and one of the items is 
"one barrel of cyder." 

The next minister was the 

Rev. John Brown, 1619-1743. 

Just before he came the celebrated revivalist George 
Whitefield preached a sermon at sunrise to a large crowd 
near the foot of Mill Street. 



18 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

Under Brown's administration there was another seating 
of the meeting-house, which took four days and required 
two committees as before. The parsonage house was re- 
paired ; the lime for plastering being hauled by oxen from 
Newbury. (The sugar and wine, for Mr. Gardiner's ordin- 
ation, were brought on horseback from Boston. The nails 
for building watch-houses came on horseback from Ips- 
wich.) 

1729. The North Parish was erected. From this time 
we have regular meetings of the First Parish as distinct 
from the town meetings. Forty-six members of this church 
were set off to form the North Parish. In October, 1730, 
twenty-six others were dismissed to help form the church 
in what is now Salem, N. H. 

1734. West Parish was set off, and seventy-seven mem- 
bers went from this church into it. Under Mr. Brown's 
ministry four hundred and thirty-eight persons were ad- 
mitted to the church ; fifty-eight adults and one thou- 
sand and seventy-six children were baptized. A great 
religious awakening occurred while Mr. Brown was here, 
and we find one hundred and ten persons admitted in 
two months. For ten years Mr. Brown had been ill with 
consumption before he died in 174'J. The town paid his 
widow £100. This worthy man was a graduate of Har- 
vard in 1714. He married a daughter of Rev. Row- 
land Cotton, of Sandwich. Four of their sons also grad- 
uated at Cambridge. During his labors of twenty-four 
years in the ministry of this church it had lost large- 
ly in numbers by the erection of other parishes; but 
it had through, it all a wholesome and increasing intlu- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 19 

ence. The number received more than balanced those 
who were set off. 

Rev. Edward Barnard, 1743-1774. 

His salary was one hundred ounces of silver. 

In 1748, the first bell in this town was imported from 
London and hung on the First Parish Church. £100 were 
raised to defray the expense of a belfry, and hanging the 
bell. The belfry was built on the ridge of the meeting- 
house and a rope came down in the broad aisle. It was 
voted to ring the bell at ten o'clock every day and at nine 
every night, and on sabbaths and lectures. Samuel Knowl- 
ton, the first bell-man, was succeeded by John Whiting. 
When he died, his widow rang the bell and kept the meet- 
ing house in order for many years. 

In 1766, a new house of worship was erected just north 
of the old one. It was to cost £300, but we are not sur- 
prised to learn that it cost actually over £1000. This was 
the third structure, sixty-six by forty -five feet in size, and 
stood till 1837. Then the Parish sold the site of their 
meeting-house to the city. It is now City Hall Park. 
They then purchased the present lot and erected a fine new 
church. This was burned in 1847, and the building in 
which we are now gathered was built in 1849. It is the 
fifth house of worship which this Parish has built. It 
originally faced the park ; but it was turned around, raised 
and the vestry built under it a few years ago. 

In 1774, Mr. Barnard died of paralysis. He was a grad- 
uate of Harvard, and was settled in the ministry here thir- 
ty-one years. During this time he baptized nine hundred 



'20 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

and eight persons, while ninety-four were admitted to the 
church and ninety-six owned the covenant. He is spoken 
of as a man of genuine worth, a watchful, affectionate and 
unwearied pastor. Those who knew him best loved him 
most. 

Rev. Johx Shaw, 1777-1794. 

His salary was £100 and the parsonage lands. In 
1783, a man by the name of Sawyer, temporarily insane, 
jumped from the belfry of the church. He intended 
to alight on the stocks but went over them and was 
killed by striking the ground. In 1789, Washington 
visited Haverhill. The event was announced by the 
First Parish bell. Mr. Shaw called on the General, 
and Israel Bartlett's porch sheltered him while he waited 
for the ferry boat. Mr. Shaw died suddenly in 1794, aged 
forty- eight. He had preached as usual only the day before. 
He had baptised one hundred and fifty children, fifty per- 
sons had owned the covenant, and fifteen were admitted to 
the church. As his epitaph declares, he was " a bright ex- 
ample of benevolence, meekness, patience and charity, an 
able advocate of the religion he professed, and a faithful 
servant of the God he worshipped." 

Abiel Abbot, 1795-1803, 

was the next minister. His salary was £110 with the 
parsonage lands. In 1803, he asked for an increase of 
salary. This was refused and he asked for his dismissal. 
During the term forty-nine persons were admitted to the 
church, and one hundred and twenty children baptised. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 21 

In 1800, a great meeting was held in the meeting-house 
in memory of Washington. Mr. Abbot's address on this 
occasion was printed together with Washington's fare- 
well address and a copy sent to every family in the 
town. 

It was five years before the 

Rev. Joshua Dodge 

came in 1808. His salary was $500, and the parsonage 
house and land. In 1809., lots were sold from this 
land and a ministerial fund started. In 1813, a stove 
was purchased and placed in the pew of John Dow. 
This was disposed of in 1815. But in 1821, "two elegant 
stoves" were given by Hon. Moses B. Moody. In 1827, 
Mr. Dodge asked and obtained his dismissal. He lived to 
be eighty-one years old, dying in 1861. One hundred 
and thirty baptisms, and eighty admissions occurred dur- 
ing his ministry. 

1828. The next year the 

Rev. Dudley Phelps 

was ordained. His salary was $700. The parsonage 
lands had now nearly all been sold, and in 1831 the 
parsonage house and lot was sold to Dr. Moses Nichols. 
In 1830, an organ was placed in the church. In 1821, 
a clock had been placed on the belfry. This was put 
on the new building in 1837, but went up in smoke 
with the rest of the building in 1847. In 1834, the con- 
nection between Mr. Phelps and the parish was dis- 
solved by a vote of the parish members. This was due 



22 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

to the increasing Unitarian sentiment in the church and 
parish. This sentiment had been growing ever since the 
days of Edward Barnard. Mr. Abbot was practically a 
Unitarian in his theology. Tims when Mr. Phelps began to 
preach a more strict theology, it created no little disturb- 
ance. A majority finally voted to dissolve the connection, 
and so Mr. Phelps left. But many members of the parish 
were highly dissatisfied, and in consequence withdrew and 
formed, in 1833, the present flourishing Centre Church. 

Rev. Nathaniel Gage, 1834-1840, 

was the first regular Unitarian minister of this parish. 
He remained six years. He was a graduate of Harvard 
class of 1822. He lived twenty years after leaving this 
church, dying in Cambridge in 1861. 

Rev. Nathaniel Folsom 

was settled in 1840. His salary was $800. He remained 
with the society till 1846. 

Rev. James Richardson 

settled in 1847, and remained till 1850. His memorial 
window is in the church. It was during his pastorate 
that the church was burned and the present structure 
erected. 

We are now come to a period within the memory of liv- 
ing men. We shall consequently not dwell on the record 
from 1850 to the present day. Mr. Richardson was suc- 
ceeded by Rev. Frederick Hinkley, 1850-1853. Then 
came Rev. Robert Hassal, 1856-1868. He was followed 



! 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 23 

by Rev. William T. Clark, 1859-1862, whose name appears 
in one of the windows of this church. Of Rev. Joseph 
Angier, 1862-1864; Rev. S. H. Morse, 1865-1866; Rev. 
James Vila Blake, 1867-1869 ; Rev. W. H. Spencer, 1869- 
1873; of Rev. G. H. Patten, 1874; of Rev. W. H. Spen- 
cer's second ministry, from 1875-1880 ; Rev. Thomas E. 
St. John 1881-1890, and Rev. James Bagley, 1890-1893, it 
is not necessary for me to speak. These clergymen, like 
their predecessors in this ancient pulpit, labored assiduously 
and preached earnestly the word of God as it came to 
them. Several of them yet living are connected with this 
parish by ties of old and affectionate regard. 

The list of ministers of the First Parish numbers twenty- 
four. The average time of service is about eleven years. 
Here is certainly a record to which we may refer with a 
bit of pride. This parish is the first and oldest in this 
city. She is, so to speak, the mother of the North, West, 
and East Parishes. For almost one hundred years this 
was the only church in the township of Haverhill. The 
First Baptist Church, founded in 1764, seems venerable 3 r et 
this church is one hundred and twenty years older than it. 
The First Universalist Society is but a stripling in com- 
parison, so far as age is concerned, yet we gladly acknowl- 
edge, a most vigorous and healthy stripling. Two centuries 
and a half of this parish, and two hundred and fifty years 
of Haverhill are interwoven with each other. They are of 
the same warp and woof ; and to pick out and separate the 
one from the other is to destroy the pattern. Hence we 
place the seal of this fair city on our programme, and feel 
how truly it belongs there. 



24 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

On the rolls of this parish will be found the names of 
men who fought in the French and Indian wars. Here 
also are such names as Thomas and Hannah Dustan, Ben- 
jamin Rolfe and Nathaniel Saltonstall. The stirring meet- 
ings which were called to consider the events preceding 
and during the Revolution were held in the meeting-house 
on the City Hall Park. Here in 1765, the Stamp Act was 
discussed ; here in 1770, exciting speeches were made over 
the Boston massacre. After the battle of Lexington, one 
hundred and five men marched from Haverhill ; seventy- 
four of these were in the battle of Bunker Hill. Two 
men, Simon Pike and John Eaton were killed ; both were 
members of this church. Here in 1776, the town voted to 
sustain Congress with the life and fortune of its people. 
In 1777, a committee chosen to care for the families of sol- 
diers, is headed by Deacons Chase and Clement of this 
society. Here in 1778, the town solemnly voted for the 
union of the states in one confederation. When the cele- 
brated Major Andre was captured Daniel Bradley a mem- 
ber of this parish stood guard over him. In the old First 
Parish meeting-house, in 1798, was draughted an address to 
President John Adams and presented to him by our Repre- 
sentative in Congress, Hon. Baily Bartlett, also a member 
of this parish. In the same place was held the grand cele- 
bration in honor of the peace of 1815. From that pulpit, 
Samuel May, in 1835, delivered one of the first, if not the 
very first, abolition lecture ever heard in Haverhill. 

But beneath all these more striking incidents which show 
the long, intimate and honorable historical connection be- 
tween our city and this religious organization, there is 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 25 

something more important and organic. The effect which 
this church has had on the civilization of Haverhill, on its 
education, its morality, its fatherhood and motherhood, is 
not to estimated. As a stream waters silently and out of 
sight, the innumerable shrubs upon its banks, so for a 
quarter millenium this church has nourished, at its roots, 
the truest life of Haverhill. 



Books used in preperation : 

Chase's History of Haverhill. 

Myrick's History of Haverhill. 

Records of the Church. 

Printed account of 250th Anniversary of Haverhill — 

Especial addresses by Dr. Snow, Rev. T. E. St. John 

and Kev. Mi-. Evarts. 



< 






I 



I 



: 



ODE 



FOR THE OCCASION. 



Two centuries passed and to-day marks the time 

Of another half way in its round, 
Since our Puritan fathers, nurtured in faith, ,. 

Did this church in the Wilderness found. 
Ah! stern were the men and brave were the maids 

Who came to these regions remote; 
On the slopes of Pentucket they builded their homes 

And sowed here the seeds of a state. 

So the years glided on like the Merrimack's tide. 

The few homes to ten thousand have grown; 
The din of a city's life does not disturb 

Our fathers who sleep in the ground. 
And the old church has stood through sunshine and storm, 

From the days of John Ward until now 
A fountain whence flowed the pure waters of life, 

Of Virtue, Religion and Law. 

P"or a century she stood God's oracle here, 

Sole watch tower of Zion afar 
Where men paid their worship and prayed for God's grace, 

Mid the storms of the Indian war. 



28 ODE. 

O! men of to-day how shall we forget, 

The story of days that have flown; 
Of a faith and a life, with its roots in the past, 

But whose fruitage is seen in our own. 

At her jubilee gathered her children take pride 

In her past with its faith and its power; 
With her heritage grand to-day she doth stand 

To answer the needs of the hour. 
As a clear steady light for the right and the true, 

For all that is noble and good, 
May she shine on our pathway, illumine our minds 

To bring in the fair Kingdom of God. 

— Jtev. F. A. Gilmore. 



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